'Dangerous' street near Novato's Hamilton school may get sidewalk

After five years of community urging, progress has been made to build a sidewalk on congested Nave Drive near Hamilton Elementary School.

City officials say they have scored nearly half the money needed to get the job done.

"Our estimate for the cost of the project is around $358,000 and we obtained $175,000 from a Transportation Fund for Clean Air grant in November toward the cost of designing and installing a new sidewalk," said Andrew Poster, Novato's interim public works director. The city hopes to get the remaining funds and start construction in late 2015, he said.

A push to install a sidewalk on the street, where Hamilton school and its popular gymnasium are located, has been going on for five years, spearheaded by Novato resident and neighbor Tracey Ruiz. The activist put up an online petition at http://chn.ge/1dt2TDF last week that drew more than 150 responses in just two days.

"Our kids go to Novato Charter School (nearby) and my children play basketball at Hamilton Gym. It's time that the street was safe for our children," Novato resident Carolina Loiacono posted in the comments section of the online petition.

The vehicles park in a long narrow stretch of dirt road bordering Nave between Bolling Drive and Main Gate Road. Because the cars are parked there, pedestrians have no place else to walk but the bicycle lane as cars whiz past them on Nave.

"It's a dangerous situation," Ruiz said.

As just one example, Ruiz said she witnessed a two-vehicle crash March 20 across from the school entrance on Nave.

The activist has met with city officials on numerous occasions over the years to push the project, she said.

With the $175,000 in hand and an approximately $183,000 shortfall, planners will apply for funds through the Active Transportation Program in May and work with the Transportation Authority of Marin to see if Transportation Development Act funds can be made available, Poster said.

City officials also will apply for Safe Routes for School funds to help get the project built, he said. The city also is working on a Community Based Transportation Plan which, when completed in 2015, is expected to make Novato eligible for apply for Lifeline funds, Poster said.

Ruiz has no intention of letting up the pressure in the meantime.

"I just hope there isn't a pedestrian/vehicle accident between now and the summer of 2013," she said. "I'm going to continue to gather signatures to see if we can make this a higher priority."